GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS
In this section:
Peace Deal Likely to Aid Tsunami Relief
Liberia Elections Next Month
$16 Million for Tsunami Warning System
Internews Criminal Convictions Dismissed
Massive Polio Vaccinations for Indonesia
Firm Pays $41.9M to Settle Claims
Harvard, Two Advisors Found Liable
Healthcare Training to Get Boost in Ghana
Grant in Bolivia Focuses on Health
Public, Private Sectors Advance M2M
Peace Deal Likely to Aid Tsunami Relief
HELSINKI—The Indonesian government and rebels
from the Free Aceh Movement signed a historic peace deal Aug.
15 to officially end a nearly three-decade old conflict.
Peace should help ensure the long-term viability of U.S.
foreign assistance and USAID Aceh reconstruction projects,
including the rebuilding of the Banda Aceh-Meulaboh Road.
Groundbreaking for the road was held Aug. 25.
The peace deal followed seven months of talks between the
two factions.
Earlier truces ended in renewed conflict. But the December
tsunami that ravaged Indonesia’s Aceh province brought
the two sides back to the negotiating table. With large areas
in the oil- and gas-rich province destroyed and more than
160,000 people killed in the tsunami, both sides said they
want to concentrate on helping in the reconstruction of Aceh.
Liberia Elections Next Month
MONROVIA, Liberia—Voters will be electing a
president and vice president, senators, and representatives
on Oct. 11. Candidate nominations closed Aug. 6, with 27 nominees
for president, 25 for vice president, 206 for the Senate and
521 for the House of Representatives.
With no official mechanism to lodge complaints, some youths
threatened to hold violent street demonstrations if their
candidates’ nominations failed to be accepted. Such intimidation
has raised concerns about security during the electoral period,
especially as other National Election Commission members have
received threatening letters.
USAID/Liberia is supporting the election process through
its democracy and governance projects.
$16 Million for Tsunami Warning System
WASHINGTON—A $17 million U.S. program for an
Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System (IOTWS), which will help
Indian Ocean region countries detect and prepare for tsunamis
and related coastal hazards, was announced Aug. 17.
USAID’s Regional Development Mission for Asia in Bangkok
will lead the U.S. effort, with technical support from the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), U.S.
Geological Survey (USGS), and other U.S. agencies.
“This is one of our top priorities in Asia, and an
important part of the U.S. post-tsunami reconstruction effort,”
said Tim Beans, head of USAID’s Bangkok office.
The U.S. program will address all levels of early warning
capabilities, from community-level disaster readiness to national-
and regional-level tsunami and earthquake detection and warning
communications systems. The U.S. approach also will prepare
a response not only to tsunamis, but to other serious coastal
hazards such as cyclones, sea swells, floods, and earthquakes.
Regional cooperation, real-time sharing of data, transparency,
and harmonization will be underlying themes in the U.S. program.
NOAA will support the deployment of detection buoys and
related technologies in the Indian Ocean. USGS will support
seismic technology transfer to the region, data analysis,
and earthquake hazard mapping and modeling related to tsunami
hazards.
The U.N.’s Intergovernmental Ocean-ographic Commission
(IOC) has the lead responsibility for developing regional
warning capabilities. U.S. technical assistance will support
efforts in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, and the
Maldives—the countries most severely affected by the
December 2004 disaster, where over 220,000 people perished.
Internews Criminal Convictions Dismissed
TASHKENT, Uzbekistan—A court here overturned
the convictions of two Internews Network employees who had
been found guilty of meddling in Uzbekistan’s politics.
Internews trains journalists in developing countries. Much
of its work is funded by USAID.
Internews and its employees had been accused of becoming
improperly involved in the country’s politics. On Aug.
4, a lower court convicted the two employees—a director
and an accountant—of a conspiracy to engage in unlicensed
production of TV programming and illegal publishing. Internews
and its employees denied the charges.
Catherine Eldridge, Internews Network’s country director,
told reporters that judges at the Yakkasaray criminal court
ruled that prosecutors should have filed their case in civil
instead of criminal court. “So I suppose we can just
expect the case to go to a civil court; we can only wait and
see what will happen with the future of the organization in
Uzbekistan,” Eldridge said.
Internews began operating in Uzbekistan in 1995, where it
has helped develop the country’s independent, private
television stations through training, technical assistance,
and support of local news and information programming.
A news report from Internews said that Uzbek officials have
been cracking down on NGOs—especially those supporting
the development of democracy—during the last 18 months.
The news service speculated that the Uzbek authorities may
fear a repeat of the popular uprisings that recently brought
down governments in Georgia, Ukraine, and Kyrgyzstan.
Massive Polio Vaccinations for Indonesia
JAKARTA—A massive campaign to vaccinate 24 million
children began in late August to halt the spread of polio
in Indonesia. It was launched by the Ministry of Health, with
World Health Organization (WHO) and USAID support.
“Indonesia is very concerned, not only because of the
fact (polio) is paralyzing children here, but it could spread
internationally,” said David Heymann of WHO. Officials
feared that after the wet season starts in September the disease
would spread rapidly.
USAID is contributing to the new vaccination campaign, as
well as to surveillance activities that identified new cases
of the disease.
The Agency’s Global Polio Eradication Coordinator Ellyn
Ogden met personally with many of the affected children during
May. She said about 225 cases had been reported as of late
August.
Polio returned in May to Indonesia, which had been free
of the waterborne disease since 1995. The new outbreak began
in northern Nigeria after religious leaders halted inoculations,
fearing they spread HIV/AIDS or caused sterility. Polio spread
to neighboring countries, the Middle East, and Indonesia,
where rumors on television that the vaccine is dangerous led
some parents to refuse the inoculations.
“The vaccine used here in Indonesia is the same vaccine
that’s been used throughout the world to vaccinate over
2 billion children, and this vaccine is one of the safest
that is available,” Heymann said.
Firm Pays $41.9M to Settle Claims
WASHINGTON—The Agency’s Inspector General’s
office said July 22 that PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP (PWC)
has agreed to pay the U.S. government $42 million to resolve
allegations that it made false claims in connection with travel
reimbursements it collected for several federal agencies.
USAID will get back $3.36 million. An investigation concluded
that PWC received rebates for its federally financed travel
expenses from travel and credit card companies, airlines,
hotels, rental car agencies, and travel service providers.
Despite a duty to do so, PWC did not consistently disclose
these travel rebates to the United States, nor did it reduce
the travel reimbursement claims it submitted to the government
by the amounts of the rebates.
Other agencies involved included the General Services Administration;
U.S. Postal Service; Environmental Protection Agency; NASA;
and the departments of Energy, Transportation, and Treasury.
USAID’s Acting Inspector General Bruce N. Crandlemire
said “This multi-agency investigative effort and the
ensuing result should serve notice to those who would attempt
to defraud the government on a large scale and across jurisdictional
lines, that government investigative resources can and will
be pooled and coordinated in order to ensure full accountability
of taxpayer dollars.”
Harvard, Two Advisors Found Liable
WASHINGTON—Harvard University, a Harvard University
professor, and a former staff member have agreed to pay more
than $31 million to resolve civil claims from false billings
to USAID.
Economics professor Andrei Shleifer and Jonathan Hay, who
is no longer with Harvard, were paid under a USAID grant to
lead a project and provide advice to the nascent Russian economy
on privatization, following the fall of communism and the
creation of fair and open markets. Instead, U.S. prosecutors
say, the two used their positions and influence over Russian
officials to advance their own and their spouses’ private
financial interests.
Shleifer and Hay made prohibited investments in Russia in
the areas in which they were providing advice and used their
positions to inappropriately influence the Russian Securities
Commission, to which they were key advisors. The terms of
the USAID grant strictly prohibited these activities, and
neither Harvard nor its advisors disclosed these prohibited
personal business activities and investments to USAID.
Under the settlement announced Aug. 3, Harvard will pay
$26.5 million; Shleifer will pay $2 million; and Hay will
pay between $1 million and $2 million (depending on his earnings
over the next 10 years). In addition, the settlement includes
$1.5 million already paid to the United States by FFIA, formerly
known as Farallon Fixed Income Associates, LP, a company owned
by Shleifer’s wife, Nancy Zimmerman.
Healthcare Training to Get Boost in Ghana
TEMA, Ghana—USAID has donated $170,000 in medical
supplies and other material to Ghana’s Ministry of Health.
The equipment, anatomical models, textbooks, midwife bags,
and other materials will be distributed to 42 preservice training
institutions for nurses, midwives, and community health officers
in all 10 regions of the country. The donation will help the
health ministry train more healthcare workers.
From 2002 to 2004, enrollment increased by 64 percent—from
2,944 to 4,829—among 33 preservice nursing and midwifery
schools for which data is available. The increase is placing
severe pressure on the institutions to maintain or increase
the quality of training provided and to ensure that teaching
aids, supplies, and equipment are sufficient for the growing
number of students. This donation is targeted to help meet
those needs.
USAID currently provides $18.2 million a year to Ghana’s
health sector. A ceremony to mark the donation was held here
Aug. 10.
Grant in Bolivia Focuses on Health
WASHINGTON—USAID awarded $13 million to the
Bolivian private health network Program for Coordination in
Integral Health, an NGO umbrella program that for the next
five years will focus on improving health services for Bolivians
in poor and rural areas.
Conditions in rural areas, compared to those in the urban
population, have worsened in the last 15 years. The NGO umbrella
network will try to close the gap in medical service delivery.
The award is part of USAID/Bolivia’s ongoing cooperation
with Bolivia, which amounts to $100 million per year. Other
objectives in Bolivia include increasing incomes of the poor;
managing forest, water, and biodiversity resources; promoting
economic growth in coca-growing and associated areas; and
increasing confidence in democratic institutions and processes.
Public, Private Sectors Advance M2M
WASHINGTON—Seventy industry experts in methane
and other emissions convened here June 9 for a workshop to
advance Methane to Markets (M2M), a presidential initiative
to recover and use methane gas as a clean, sustainable energy
source. M2M targets three major methane sources: landfills,
underground coal mines, and natural gas and oil systems.
The M2M workshop was hosted by the Global Development Alliance;
Bureau for Economic Growth, Agriculture, and Trade; Environmental
Protection Agency; and the State Department.
President Bush announced the interagency partnership in
July 2004, and the United States is committing $53 million
over the next five years to the effort.
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